Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: chicago house, d'marc cantu, dcantu, jak beat, kold, melvin oliphant III, sequencias, traxx, villan x
Killer release on New York’s Sequencias label. Powerful and hypnotic Chicago acid inspired cut on the A and a cool slow building chord driven track layered over raw drum rhythms on the b-side. A pair of artists from two different points along Interstate 94, who have a reputation for the very same. The main body laid down by VILLan X is tight metallic percussion underpinned by solid kicks and a stream of robotic filtered bass, containing unexpected shifts within the frequency register. Foreboding tones and feelings drift towards us across which the disembodied voice of Kold is able to find a platform from which to shudder into our consciousness and pose questions from across the galaxies about the nature of our very being. dcantu carries on the feelings of space, with protracted white noise shots and stabby modulated organ chords, but doesn’t leave it long before setting the pace with solid drums and shifting keyboard funk aimed squarely your body and the dance floor as octave changes force you up and then down again to a backdrop thick with texture. This provides for the body and the mind.
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: beau wanzer, hour house is your rush, jakbeat, mutant beat dance, naughty wood, rush hour, traxx
Fully Koded Chicagoians Traxx and Beau Wanzer team up for another Mutant Beat Dance release. Together they have produced arguably ‘the best 80s Chicago house record NOT made in the 80s. The Mutants call it Jakbeat, inspired by the early days of house music. ‘Let Me Go’ is as intense and rhythmically inclined as they come. Naughty Wood’s sparse vocals cry desperation, almost nearing insanity, which makes up for a pressure cooker like warehouse anthem. ‘Rottonfunk’ is another intense work out which has a killer groove and makes us wander off to the Promised Land (wherever that is).
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: album, andy stott, bicep, blondes, cosmic, disco, house, jd twitch, john roberts, rvng intl., sam haar, traxx, zach steinman
Blondes, the duo of Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, release their self-titled debut album for RVNG Intl. The release includes a 8 original tracks CD and a remix CD, featuring among others JD Twitch, John Roberts, Andy Stott and Traxx.
Filed under: 100.Sessions | Tags: chicago, jakbeat, nation, podcast, smart bar, traxx
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
But down at the Smartbar in Chicago, Traxx and fellow friends DVS1 and Tevo Howard stirred up all creatures to gather in song and dance.
As a lasting memory of the night we present this new podcast from Nation, a recording of the multiple facettes of Traxx’ sound, spanning decades of musical knowledge, encompassing musical compositions of all genres and all trades to create a unique sonic consciousness that we call Jakbeat!
Have a Merry Xmas everyone, and a Happy New Year!’
Like this:
Filed under: 010.Interviews | Tags: cdr berlin workshop, interview, james t cotton, jtc, melvin oliphant III, tadd mullinix, traxx
Filed under: 100.Sessions | Tags: acid house, chicago house, disco, jak beat, moog, nation, traxx
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: acid house, aroy dee, chicago house, chicago skyway, jakbeat, m>o>s deep, m>o>s recordings, melvin oliphant III, sean hernandez, the poetic painter m, traxx
Traxx aka Melvin Oliphant III returs to MOS Deep with a stunning solo-project. Under his The Poetic Painter M pseudonym he serves up ‘Marie’s Transcendance’ backed-up by two reworks from compadre Sean Hernandez aka Chicago Skyway and label owner Aroy Dee. ‘Marie’s Transcendance’ is a frenetic yet hypnotizing house track that echoes memories of downpitched Newbeat material and the hooky coldness of new wave. Melvin, though, re-defines rather than regurgitates these influences and re-launches them into a dark and moody acid-flecked future. Chicago Skyway reworks it into a deep, emotional just as acid-version which seems to float into eternity as solid 808-beat programming plays out busily behind. Aroy Dee edits a second rework of “Marie’s”, creating a simple but highly effective and bouncing track that’s carried along by a psychedelic, out-of-this-world bass line.
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: baris k, beau wanzer, compilation, i.b.m., jakbeat, jamal moss, mick wills, nation, quid pro quo, ssps, steve summers, tevo howard, traxx
Nation returns to the forefront, compiling a serious arsenal of exclusives. Their motto: RWTHO = Rollin’ With True Heads Only. Traxx unleashes an array different styles that make up the elements of the Jakbeat sound, from a line-up that’s Not for the faint of heart! This is the 2nd in the The Modern Electronic Element series.
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: beau wanzer, chicago, dfa records, disco, electronic, gavin russom, mutant beat dance, traxx
DFA Records presents “Night Sky”, a track that grows and grown into an 13 minutes odyssey. The buzzy bottom end enters and expands before Russom’s vocals – alleyway dark and mysterious – make their way in. The song dips and dives, going from barebones synthesizers resting on organic percussion to explosive vocal choruses. The end reunites nearly every sound that made a previous appearance in an ensemble of ecstatic rhythms and noise. Mutant Beat Dance aka Beau Wanzer & Melvin Oliphant III, undo the original and transform it. There are so many new elements to be found here – a thick bassline, shuffling beat, wiry electro etchings, eerie washes of synths that swell unexpectedly and unannounced – it all makes for a collection of sounds that, thankfully, are head swimming in their unique and wonderful unpredictability.
Filed under: 101.Events, Other Events | Tags: aroy dee, berlin, dj deep, finn johannsen, hugo capablanca, hunee, mick wills, nancy fortune, nation, ssps, the crystal ark, tiny, traxx, trevor jackson
if you are in Berlin or around, you cannot afford to miss this!
Some of the recordings from this extraOrdinary celebration of Traxx’ birthday are available here.
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: chicago, d'marc cantu, jak, jakbeat, jtc, lux rec, traxx
X2 Members: Traxx, D’Marc Cantu & JTC drop a three track V.A. EP on the burgeoning Lux Rec imprint. Each artist delivers, with some pretty signature styles on display. A great EP showcasing these maverick sickos.
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: chicago, jakbeat, lumberjacks in hell, nation, traxx
Filed under: 100.Sessions | Tags: chicago, electronique, jakbeat, nation, podcast, ricochet, traxx
Filed under: 100.Sessions | Tags: as you like it, chicago, jakbeat, nation, traxx
Filed under: 001.Features | Tags: chicago, d'marc cantu, dmc, jakbeat, jtc, nation, saturn v, traxx, x2
New release on Nation, the “Rhythm Relics” EP is an approach towards the beginnings of an evolving acid-driven Dance scene in the UK two decades ago. Stemming ideas from that era, Saturn V and X2 came up with a testament of evolutionary ideas and musical shape-shifting to bring our influences to the audiences of today.
Filed under: 010.Interviews, 100.Sessions | Tags: chicago, interview, ron hardy, the music box, traxx
download session / audio interview
Filed under: 000.News | Tags: dragos rusu, jay bliss, photos, the hipodrome of music, traxx
Filed under: 101.Events, Hipodrome Events | Tags: dragos rusu, flying time, hipodrome, jay bliss, melvin oliphant III, traxx
This event is part of the European Tour for promoting Traxx - Faith, Melvin’s Oliphant III solo debut album, out on Nation last year.
Info, links and mixes here.
Filed under: 000.News | Tags: jak beat, melvin oliphant III, nation, the hipodrome of music, traxx
† “Painters paint their pictures on canvas, musicians paint their pictures on silence.” Melvin Oliphant III aka Traxx
† Jak your body till you bleed!!!
† Traxx is a lover of music — one with a passion so intense that it overcomes genre divides to weave an altogether original, exciting, and multi-textured musical fabric which envelops both the avid clubber and the home listener, as well as everyone in between. Not content to be labeled as merely a DJ, a producer, or even a DJ/Producer, Traxx is a self-described “artist of sound.” A sound that is distinctive and highly emotional which defies classification and invites analysis and discussion. From eclectic and avant-garde tunes to old school jack tracks and far beyond, Traxx hears and makes it all without discrimination, pretension or elitism.
† Traxx has released music on numerous underground labels in the US and Europe including Gigolo, Relief, Muzique, M/O/S, and Crème. His music has come to the world under a bucket load of aliasʼ including Dirty Criminals, XX Art, Mysterio, ViLLan X, Saturn V (with Tadd Mullinix), X2, and more. Heʼs also collaborated with the cream of the underground including acts like James T. Cotton (aka Tadd Mullinix), DJ Hell, Green Velvet, Dʼmarc Cantu, Mount Sims, Legowelt and many more to shape his unique definition of Jakbeat. Now finally Traxx is stepping out into the light with his first full length album under this own name for his own Chicago based imprint Nation.
† Now we have the debut Traxx album “Faith” – a record that clearly reflects Melvinʼs spiritual roots and church background as well as pushing forward his visions of Chicago circa 2009 incorporating dark core, jak trax and far beyond this is a uniquely American vision of electronic music for your mind, body and soul. The album features 11 previously unreleased compositions including collaborations with Tadd Mullinix and an acid house anthem created with Cloneʼs electro queen Nancy Fortune. For Traxx the albums title is a reflection of what we need right now globally as humans – the “Faith” to continue to struggle, to deal with the big issues of life, parenthood, finance, friendships and relationships. For him the idea behind the album was to create a story which “unfolds through emotional emancipation.” We never needed more ʻFaithʼ than we do now. Come together.
